Nov •EMBER 12, 1936. FLIGHT.
Few more fitting names could have been chosen for the small Aquila-
engined Vickers fighter than '' Venom.'' The sketch on the right shows
details of its engine installation, cockpit enclosure and electrically
operated retractable undercarriage.
recent times. Built to meet Air Minis
try Specification B.9/32 it is a mid-wing
cantilever monoplane of stressed-skin
metal construction embodying such
modern aids to performance as Handley
Page slots and flaps and variable-pitch
airscrews. The forward portion of the
fuselage is exceptionally narrow and
deep and houses three gun positions—
in the nose, at the lower rear extremity
of the box-like forward portion and on
top of the fuselage in the plane of the
trailing edge. Aft of the rear gun posi
tions the fuselage becomes extremely
small in cross section, <and in conjunc
tion with the twin-rudder arrangement
of the tail gives a very excellent field of
fire.
The Harrow heavy bomber is the com
pany's most recent product, the first
photographs appearing in this issue. De
signed for carrying heavy loads over
long distances it is equipped with ad
vanced forms of armament installations.
Apart from its functions as a heavy
bomber the Harrow has been planned
with a view to operating as a troop carrier. There are gun
turrets in the nose and tail and amidships.
The installation of Handley Page slots, flaps and of variable-
pitch airscrews on the Bristol Pegasus engines enables the
machine to operate with heavy loads from small aerodromes.
Of metal construction, the Harrow has fabric and metal cover
ing.
Being designed as a high-wing monoplane certain difficulties
would present themselves were the undercarriage made re
tractable, so, instead, the makers have fitted a clean fixed
type of landing gear.
Performance trials have given results far beyond the expec
tations of the technical staff responsible for the design.
HAWKER
ALTHOUGH single- and two-seater Hawker biplane types
are still being built, interest naturally centres round the
new Hurricane single-seater fighter, production orders for which
The first Vickers machine of full " geodetic " construction was the Wellesley
monoplane, now powered with a 850 h.p. Bristol Pegasus X.
have been received from the Air Ministry under the R.A.F.
Expansion Scheme.
The Hurricane comes within the '300 m.p.h. plus" cate
gory, and was built at the company's Kingston-on-Thames
(Surrev) works to meet Air Ministry specification F.3G/34.
Details of armament, performance and construction are with
held, but it may be stated that the machine is of fairly con
ventional construction with fabric covering. The engine is a
Rolls-Royce Merlin driving, in the prototype, a large two-
bladed wooden airscrew. To add that the undercarriage is
retractable, that flaps are fitted and that the pilot is com
pletely enclosed seems almost superfluous in view of the
extremely high performance.
The undercarriage is arranged to retract inboard into the
cantilever wing, with a slight rearward motion, the wheel
wells being covered during flight by panels moving with the
wheels.
Landing lights are housed in the leading edge of the wing
(this fact is significant in that no aeroplane which was not
docile and without vice during
landing would be adopted by the
R.A.F. as a night-flying type)
and the military equipment is be-.
lieved to be very comprehensive.
The well-established Fury
single-seater fighter biplane, as
supplied to the R.A.F., has been
developed during the past year;
one particularly interesting model
A medium bomber of impressive
appearance and performance.the
first Vickers twin-engined " geo
detic " monoplane has been
adopted by the R.A.F. under
the name Wellington.